Northern Michigan University’s Hannah Kastamo, right, knocks in her second goal of the game during a women’s soccer exhibition game played against Carroll University at the NMU Soccer Field in Marquette on Aug. 24. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — The new era of women’s soccer with head coach Erin Egolf truly begins today.

After a handful of exhibition matches both last spring and in just the past few weeks, this Northern Michigan University team will play its first regular season game at 1 p.m. today at its home NMU Soccer Field against nonconference St. Cloud State.

It’s just the first in a four-game homestand to open the season that next has Minnesota-Duluth coming to town at noon Sunday.

The string of games in Marquette also includes matches against former Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference member Northwood at 1 p.m. next Thursday and against Cedarville (Ohio) at noon on Saturday, Sept. 13.

Those four games compose the Wildcats’ entire nonconference schedule; after that are GLIAC games in Chicago against Roosevelt on Sept. 19 and in Kenosha, Wisconsin, against Wisconsin-Parkside on Sept. 21.

Northern’s first conference home game is against league powerhouse Grand Valley State on Friday, Sept. 26.

Both of this week’s foes not only harken from Minnesota, but are members of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

NMU is 6-5 all-time against St. Cloud, including five wins in their last six meetings. But the Minnesota version of the Huskies (as opposed to Michigan Tech’s) won their last meeting with Northern, 2-1 in Minnesota early last season.

For this season, St. Cloud was chosen to finish fourth in its preseason coaches poll, joining Northern is making the NCAA Division II tournament the past two seasons — actually NMU has been there three years running.

The Huskies have posted double-digit wins the past two years, too, and had a program record 11-game unbeaten streak in 2024.

They return NSIC First Team picks Ellie Primerano, a senior forward, and Ana Spaine, a junior defender.

NMU is 6-8-2 all-time vs. Minnesota-Duluth, which includes four straight wins over the Bulldogs dating back to 2021. A year ago, the Wildcats won 6-1, with Duluth’s last win in Marquette in 2018.

UMD was only picked to finish 11th in the NSIC poll after a 2-12-3 season in 2024 even with Greg Cane about to embark on his 32nd year as the Bulldogs’ only coach ever.

Duluth has a pair of NSIC Players to Watch, senior goalie Kaycee Chavez and junior attacker Jessica Eischens.

NMU fans can follow @NMU_wsoccer on Instagram and @NMU_wsoccer on X (formerly Twitter) for updates leading up to and during the games. Or visit the NMU athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and look under the women’s soccer schedule for links to live video, live statistics and previews.

“We have girls that challenge for everything, they tackle everything, they win everything, and there’s a certain edge to it that I love,” Egolf said in an NMU Sports Information season preview. “There is no team that is going to play us and then leave feeling like it was an easy game.

“I think our team is very competitive and they get after it, and I love that about them.”

Despite having won back-to-back regular season and tournament championships in the GLIAC, the Wildcats were only chosen for fourth place in the coaches preseason poll released recently.

That might be due to the departure of wildly successful head coach Jon Sandoval, who took the head coaching job at NCAA Division I Loyola of Chicago after he posted a sterling 62-21-15 record in five years at NMU.

And it also must’ve had something to do with the departures of GLIAC Offensive Player of the Year Brooke Pietila; Freshman of the Year Sally Patton; First Teamers Justin L’Esperance, Molly Pistorius and Maria Storm; and honorable mention Angelina Perritano.

But Egolf has experience at the Division I level as an assistant coach at Illinois State in 2024. For nine years before that, she was head coach at D-II University of Springfield in Illinois, becoming its all-time winningest coach with conference tourney bids three times.

And the cupboard isn’t bare on the field, either, for NMU, with Hannah Kastamo returning after earning seven distinct honors, including the GLIAC Defender of the Year, the GLIAC Tournament team and an all-region First Team pick.

Junior Madison Bilbia returns after doubling her production from her freshman to sophomore years to four goals and 12 points in 2024.

Also back are senior defender Kenna Alexander, junior goalkeeper Jillian Thompson and senior defender Addison Wargo.

In all, this youthful team has four seniors, five juniors and six sophomores, but also 14 freshmen.

In the GLIAC preseason poll, Grand Valley was picked No. 1 with six of nine first-place votes, followed by Saginaw Valley State and Ferris State before reaching NMU.

After the Wildcats, picked in fifth was Davenport, then Michigan Tech and Purdue Northwest tied for sixth, Parkside eighth and Roosevelt ninth.

“We are looking forward to the season ahead,” Egolf told NMU SI. “While there has been a lot of change within the program, the goals remain the same, and those are to compete for conference championships, be a top contender in the Midwest region, and perform on the national stage.

“Between the mix of returning players who are ready to build on the success of recent seasons and new players eager to get into the team and contribute right away, our team will be prepared to battle. The season is here, and we are all ready to get to work.

“The level of accountability is high, the standards that the (student-athletes) have for themselves is really high, and I don’t have to do a lot in terms of motivation; they bring a lot of effort every day.

“We have to control what we can, and that’s something I’m big on. No matter how good of a soccer team you are, we can always control our effort and our attitude within the organization.”

Egolf hired Nathan Phillips as her assistant coach after he spent the past three seasons as an assistant at Millikin University. In his time there, the Big Blue improved form 5-7-3 his first season to 7-6-4 to 14-4-1, earning the No. 3 seed in their league tourney in 2024 and hosting a playoff game for the first time in its program’s history.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release previewing the season. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.